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Safaricom issues 8 days’ deadline notice for SIM card registration


Safaricom customers who have not updated their sim card details have at most eight days to do so, the telco has said.

This comes after the Communication Authority (CA) on April 14, extended the SIM registration deadline to October 15, 2022 to allow more time for network operators and subscribers to comply with the directive.

“8 days to go! Update your SIM registration details on bit.ly/kyc-upload, my Safaricom App or any M-PESA Agent near you. Usipitwe na wakati!” Safaricom tweeted on Saturday.

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In April, the State agency said the extension was to ensure the network operators – namely Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom Kenya – meet their target of 100 per cent compliance with the Kenya Information and Communications Regulations 2015.

CA Director General Ezra Chiloba at the time said the authority would in the meantime assess progress of the exercise on a monthly basis.

“So far, Safaricom PLC has reported 67 per cent compliance, Airtel Kenya 55 per cent while Telkom Kenya is at 33 per cent. In order to ensure that operators meet their obligation, the Authority has decided to extend the SIM card registration validation period for a further six (6) months. The new deadline for updating subscriber registration details will be 15th October 2022,” Chiloba said in April.

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On Friday users who are yet to register their mobile phone lines rushed to beat the October 15 deadline. Long queues are being witnessed outside shops of all mobile telephone operators, including Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom.

At Safaricom’s shop along Kimathi Street, there were long queues as members of the public waited to register their lines.

Subscribers who will not have registered their lines with their respective service providers by October 15 will face disconnection, according to Chiloba.

As a precondition of the registration, subscribers must submit to have their photographs taken, processed and retained. They must also provide a signature and disclose whether they have other lines registered to them, failure to which, their unregistered cards will be switched off.

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